The daughter of the late CEO of Rolex is battling her father’s girlfriend in court, claiming she swiped at least five pieces of pricey artwork from his Fifth Avenue apartment just three days after he died last March.
Swiss resident Alice Heiniger, daughter of watchmaker Patrick Heiniger and executor of his estate, says his gal pal Nina Stevens removed an oil on canvas by Pablo Picasso, two drawings by Keith Haring, a Marilyn Monroe series by Andy Warhol and an untitled work by Jean-Michel Basquiat.
The Warhol, from the pop artist’s “Reversal Series” of Monroe, and the Picasso, “Buste d’homme,” alone are worth an estimated $14.8 million.
Heiniger contacted an art shipment company called Winchester Fine Art Services about the missing works, only to be told that “Mrs. Stevens had instructed Winchester not to share any information about the artwork with anyone,” according to the Manhattan Surrogate’s Court filing.
The disgruntled daughter believes that a second art transport outfit called Elite, also based in Brooklyn, picked up the pieces from Winchester on April 22 “for shipment elsewhere, probably Europe,” she says in the suit.
Elite never responded to Heiniger’s queries.
Heiniger admits in court papers that there are also issues regarding the artwork’s ownership, but questions to the Tony Shafrazi Gallery on W. 26th Street about their provenance were also never answered.
The daughter says her late father and his girlfriend were clients of Shafrazi for over 15 years.
The Rolex king’s entire art collection, housed in his 40th floor co-op at the Olympic Tower, is worth $11 million, according to court documents.
Heiniger wants the court to force the gallery and the two shipment companies to hand over information so she can track down the missing artwork.
She’s also suing Stevens in Europe to learn to turn over other assets that belong to her father “and to disclose information concerning [his] assets worldwide.”
In another twist, Heiniger says she learned from an appraiser that some of the artwork in her dad’s Manhattan apartment may be forgeries.
Patrick Heiniger died in Monaco on March 3 at age 62 of an undisclosed illness. He’d been at the helm of the timepiece company from 1992 through 2008.
Nina Stevens’ attorney, Richard Golub, denied the allegations and promised the claims would be “hotly contested” in court.